Delaware Supreme Court Permits VLIW Technology Trade Secrets Suit to Proceed Against Hewlett-Packard Company
| News Release - Business & Technology Sourcing, Intellectual Property, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Worldwide
| 23 December 2003, Chicago - The Delaware Supreme Court has reinstated VLIW Technology, LLC's breach of contract and trade secrets suit against Hewlett-Packard Company (H-P) and STMicroelectronics, Inc. (STM), involving technology that greatly speeds up computers.
The intellectual property at issue involves the Trace compiler that utilizes a special type of programming known as VLIW or "very long instruction word." The technology permits computations to be performed in parallel rather than series, exploiting the parallel processing capabilities of a computer.
VLIW Technology's suit states that H-P and STM violated confidentiality provisions in a 1990 licensing agreement for the technology and misappropriated that technology. The original agreement was with Multiflow Computer Inc., whose successor, VLIW, continues to license the technology. In overturning the lower court's decision, the Delaware Supreme Court found that VLIW Technology had a reasonable interpretation of the contract provisions. Within hours of the decision on December 19, the trial court contacted parties indicating a desire to expedite the trial in 2004.
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP drew upon lawyers from three of its offices -- Michael Warnecke, who was lead counsel, David Melton, a member of the Intellectual Property Group in Chicago, Donald Falk, a member of the Appellate Group in Palo Alto, and Brett Busby, a former Supreme Court clerk and new member of the Appellate Group in Houston.
Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP is among the 10 largest law practices in the world with more than 1,300 lawyers practicing in seven U.S. cities (Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, and Washington) and six European cities (Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, London, Manchester, and Paris). The practice also has an independent correspondent relationship with Jáuregui, Navarrete, Nader y Rojas, S.C., one of Mexico City's most respected law firms.
For more information, please contact:
Michael Warnecke
312 701 8602
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